a choice worth taken
by aussiechick00
Summary: its the senior year. everything is going fantastic for the gang, until a mysterious new ghost kidnaps Sam. now Danny has a choice to make, but could this choice destroy the friend's relationship forever? DxS read and review!
1. disappearances

It was a peaceful day in Amity Park. The Summer sun was bright in the midday sky and the air was sweet, the flowers blossoming beautifully. It was a lovely day. Nothing could disturb the tranquillity of today. Suddenly, there was a loud scream as a white haired half ghost zoomed through the sky.

"Get back here Danny Phantom!" Skulker roared as he shot ecto-ray's at Danny.

"Skulker! I know I accidently shot you with a ghost ray," Danny called back. Sam raised an eyebrow from below, spinning the Fenton Thermos on her fingertip.

"yeah, accidently-on-purpose," Tucker muttered. Danny looked down at them innocently and shrugged. Suddenly Skulker shot another ecto-ray. Danny screamed and shot off like a rocket. Soon though, Skulker yelped in terror as something grabbed him and pulled him away. Danny looked down to see Sam and Tucker, smirking smugly up at the ghost fighter. Danny grinned at them and flew down, switching back into Danny Fenton.

"now that that's over, I think that you owe me a salad at Nasty Burger," Sam said. Danny and Tucker chuckled.

"and you owe me a-"

"Tucker, Danny owes you nothing, he didn't miss a date with you so that he could get chased by a giant robotic ghost," Sam told him. Tucker smirked. They were all in their senior year now. Sam had more of a scene look by now, and all three of them were popular. Danny sighed and pushed his hand into Sam's.

"your so pretty when you condescend Tucker, Sam," he complimented. Sam smiled thankfully.

"thanks Danny," she said, "but your still buying," she added with satirical cheer. Danny sighed with an exasperated grin, ruffling Sam's hair and kissing her forehead. Tucker rolled his eyes shortly.

"you know guys, I am still here," he whined. Sam giggled and wrapped her arms over the two boys necks.

"don't worry, Tuck, I'm not letting you get out without paying for half," she joked. Tucker chuckled, but swallowed when he realised she wasn't kidding.

Nasty Burger

"hey Valerie, two salads please," Danny sang cheerfully. Valerie raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"two? Since when are you vegetarian?" she asked confusedly as she scrolled down the order and passed it to a different employee.

"I've come to realise, an ultra recyclo-vegetarian is a noble thing to be," Danny explained, wrapping his arm around Sam loosely, who grinned softly. Valerie folded her arm with a smirk on her face.

"and I told him if he didn't he'd get no sex again," Sam added. Valerie laughed as she passed them their order. Danny smiled gingerly and he led Sam away. Tucker was waiting for them at their usual table with a sulky face. Sam chuckled.

"come on, Tucker, I'm gonna pay you guys back anyway, you didn't really buy anything," she clarified with a sweep of her, now, long black, spiky hair. Tucker shook his head.

"it's not that. This isn't the first time you've made me pay for something," he disagreed, "it's this. Why is it that even though you're a ghost fighting freak," he said to Danny, "no offense, you can still get a girlfriend, yet I'm merely a techno freak and reaaaally young mayor and I can't get one," he complained. Sam and Danny exchanged a confused glance. Danny was about to respond when screaming erupted from behind them. Tucker rolled his eyes.

"twice in one day, what is this? Ghosts annoy Amity Park day?" he moaned.

"uh, technically, its that day _every _day," Danny corrected and jumped off the back of the chair, switching forms once again. He hovered for a second with a sigh, then zoomed towards Technus. Sam blushed as she watched him fight. It was hard to believe she once that kind of thing was creepy.

"doesn't he look hot when he pounds the afterlife out of ghosts?" she sighed. Tucker scoffed. He crossed his arms.

"Tucker! Throw me the fenton thermos!" Danny shouted to Tucker. Tucker sighed and chucked the thermos to Danny, who attempted to suck Technus inside again. Technus merely laughed and sped towards the thermos, hitting it out of Danny's hands and out of reach. Danny sucked in a breath.

"what?" he shouted as Technus punched him in the mouth, sending him flying. Sam and Tucker watched in shock. they exchanged a glance.

"you alright?" Sam asked casually. Danny looked at her and nodded almost sulkily.

"not even a flesh wound," he clarified and shot right back at Technus. Sam and Tucker watched with smiles on their faces, finding it entertaining to watch.

"I'm betting on Technus," Tucker said as Danny was flung into the bathroom's across from them. Sam rolled her eyes.

"why'd _I_ have to go out with him? Now I'm only allowed to bet on him," she groaned. Sam and Tucker chuckled and shook hands. They did this almost every time. "come on Danny! I'm rooting for you baby!" Sam encouraged. Danny gave her a small salute and roundhouse kicked the ghost in the head. Tucker swore as Technus smacked into a wall.

"see you in the ghost zone," Danny laughed as he sucked Technus into the fenton thermos. Sam and Tucker cheered and clapped for him. Sam held out her hand and gestured Tucker to hand her the prize. Tucker sighed and tossed her a five dollar note. Sam grinned.

"and this is an example of something I don't have to pay back," she joked with a ruffle of Tucker's hair. Tucker pretended to sulk a moment, then grinned.

"so, who won this time?" Danny asked as he landed next to them. Tucker pointed at Sam. Sam pretended she had a massive standing ovation.

"thank you, thank you, you all must know how hard it is to gamble between the enemy and my boyfriend!" she said with a smile. Danny laughed.

On their way home

"see you guys! I haven't checked my emails in three whole hours!" Tucker announced as he jogged away. Sam and Danny waved. They continued walking. They would get to Sam's house first if they went the short way, but Sam didn't like the idea of leaving Danny to walk home alone with thousands of ghosts after him. Especially considering today's attacks. She stared up at the starry sky above her. She could see so many constellations tonight that it was hard to believe the light pollution in the town. She smiled. Quietly she leant her head on Danny's shoulder.

"have you ever seen the sky so pretty?" she sighed. Danny looked up and smiled with a little snort of agreement.

"yeah, it looks nice, but not nearly as pretty as you," he complimented. Sam blushed and tapped him. Danny nudged her lightly back. Soon Danny's house was visible at the end of the street. Sam looked behind her, she could've swore she'd heard something. But as long as Danny was with her, she was safe, she told herself. she relaxed her muscles, which she realised had tensed.

"what's up?" Danny asked. Sam looked at him. She shook her head reassuringly.

"nothing, don't worry," she said. "well here we are," she sounded almost upset. Danny smiled. He tilted her chin up.

"see you tomorrow?" he offered. Sam smiled and kissed his softly on the lips. Oh how she longed to do this all the time. He was such an amazing kisser it was hard to believe. But soon enough she broke away from him.

"tomorrow," she promised and squeezed his hand. Danny smiled and wandered inside with one finally mock longing look. Sam giggled. As soon as he closed the door, Sam sighed and began to head home. It wouldn't take that long. Just a few more blocks. But it was late at night and most people were already falling asleep. Hopefully her mom and dad wouldn't mind. Pft, who was she kidding, she was grounded. They even felt uncomfortable about her being with people she'd known since she was five years old. Soon, Sam became oddly aware that there was the sound of footsteps behind her. She stopped. So did the footsteps. She turned lightly and frowned. Reluctantly she shook her head and began walking again. This time the footsteps were faster, louder and more staccato like. She stopped almost immediately and turned on her heels. Her determined face diminished to confusion when she turned to see no one there. Sam scoffed. She should stop getting worked up about stupid paranoia. She sighed and turned back, beginning to walk again. As soon as she began to walk again she heard the footsteps, and was that the sound of giggling? She growled and turned.

"all right whoever is there better stop messing with my head or I'll break your bloody neck!" she threatened. Her anger fell to hopelessness when once again, no one was there. "I'm serious," she added and began walking again. Suddenly she felt shooting pain in her arms. Sam sucked in a breath to scream, but she somehow couldn't. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she was completely vulnerable. The pain flooded through her body fast and Sam gritted her teeth, refusing to show pain.

"bye bye," it was quiet, but Sam was sure she heard it. moments later, she collapsed on the floor, the pain centring to her heart as she breathed heavily and fainted.


	2. Slit dilemmas

Chapter 2

Danny woke up the next morning with a pit in his stomach. He had the weirdest feeling that something was the matter. And the first person to enter his head that morning was Sam. He didn't know why, but he was extremely worried about her. He jogged to his computer. He clicked on Sam's video call icon. She didn't respond. Danny bit his lip. When he checked the time though, he filled was relief, it was only six, she didn't get up until seven. He was worrying about nothing. Still, he heard action downstairs, which was weird at this time. Usually no one woke up until six thirty. He sighed. Quickly he yanked on his day clothes and shoes, brushed his hair and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. he ran out of his room and downstairs. Maddie was on the phone, with a worried look on her face, Jazz was sobbing quietly. Jack placed his hand on Danny's shoulder.

"what's going on?" he asked. Jazz placed a finger over her lips.

"mom's on the phone with Mrs Manson," she explained. Danny felt his heart in his throat. His hunch couldn't have been right could it? he deeply hoped it wasn't.

"I'm sorry Mrs Manson, but we haven't seen her," Maddie spoke awkwardly, glancing at Danny ever now and then. "yes, we'll look for her, don't worry," she hung up. Danny felt all eyes fall onto him. His mom walked over to him and immediately brought him into a large hug. It couldn't be, no, it couldn't be about Sam.

"what is it?" he asked desperately. Maddie glanced up at Jack and over to Jazz, who continued to sob.

"sam's gone missing," she said. at that moment, the house could've caught on fire and Danny wouldn't have even noticed. He felt his heart beating a million times a minute. It was his fault, he should've dropped her home before himself. He should've taken better care of her. He was to blame. Danny pushed his parents away from him. He turned on his heels, transformed and flew out of the house.

"sam! Sam! Where are you?" he shouted, "sam, please, come back!" he called. He passed all of her hang out spots, with no luck. Each passing minute he felt tears well up more and more in his eyes. "sam!" he felt his voice break and yet continued to fly. Nothing would stop him from finding her. He was the reason she was gone, so he was the one who had to bring her back. Suddenly, realisation hit him in the face. bring her back from where? Anger flooded through him. He speeded back towards his house, ignoring his crying family, zoomed down to the basement and stormed right into the ghost zone. It was oddly quiet. There was nothing but the steady breathing of Danny himself. He flew around, screaming Sam's name, calling, begging her to come back.

"what have you done with sam?!" he exploded to the entire ghost zone. Suddenly, he heard giggling behind him. He span. There was a young ghost in front of him. She was pretty, with glaring black eyes and a devious smile. Her hair was in pretty white pigtails and her little, love heart covered summer dress floated along with the rest of her. Danny stared at her and she stared back at him. They were completely silent, staring at each other.

"you've lost something," she said. Danny instantly went into a rage. He shot an ecto ray at the little ghost, who easily dodged and shot him into a wall, holding him there with her powers.

"you want your friend back, that Sam girl, hmm?" she chimed sweetly. Danny glared at her.

"where is she?" he growled darkly. "who are you?" he barked. The little ghost laughed and spun in circles.

"time, time. My name's Slit," she introduced, bowing, "I'm the ghost of dilemmas," she added proudly. Danny continued to glare.

"you haven't answered my question," he fumed. Slit waved a hand at him.

"don't worry, your friend's fine," she giggled, "for now," she added darkly. Danny pulled and yanked at the invisible power that bounded him. Slit laughed,

"don't bother, my ghost powers are at a level ten. You'll never beat me!" she laughed. Danny growled. "I have a proposition for you, Danny Phantom," she contemplated. Danny's ears perked up. he stared at her.

"what?" he asked. Slit's eyes darkened.

"I'll give you your friend back," she said. Danny couldn't help it. his heart gave a little kick and he smiled hugely.

"you will?"

"you didn't let me finish." Slit barked, "I'll give you your friend back, for something you can give me," she finished. Danny raised an eyebrow. What on earth would a little girl like her want from him? Gold? Free access out of the ghost zone? A human friend?

"anything!" he cried, despite everything, he knew he'd do anything to get Sam back. Slit smiled. She face him and flew right up to him.

"anything? You promise?" she asked. Danny nodded. Slit held out a hand to him. Danny found he could move one of his hands, which he did. Slit grabbed his hand. Danny felt a rush of horrible pain shoot through him like a fire. He managed to squint his eyes open to see Slit cringing as well. But she hid it with an evil smile. Soon the pain ebbed and Danny was once again trapped. He hung his head, breathing heavily, but Slit lifted his head with a finger.

"now, you're bound to your promise," she announced. Danny swallowed.

"what do you want?" Danny persisted. Slit smiled and giggled as if she had won something. She looked overjoyed.

"you sure you wanna know?" she asked. Danny nodded vigorously. Slit flew right up to Danny so she was inches from his face.

"I want all of your feelings towards Sam to disappear," she said seriously with an evil smile. Danny's face went white. Not that, of all things, not that...

Sam woke up in the middle of the ghost zone. She was terrified and her heart hurt badly. What was that thing that attacked her? Some kind of ghost? It must have been. Otherwise she wouldn't be here. She stared around. She didn't know where anything was, she didn't know what direction home was or where she was herself.

"danny? Tucker? Anyone?" she called out. She heard giggling behind her. It sent a chill down her spine.

"hi Sam, it's Slit," said a little ghost. Sam looked her up and down. she slowly stood up.

"you'd fit in well with my mom and dad, are you sure I wasn't adopted and your not my parents real kid?" she asked nervously. Slit giggled. She flew up close.

"someone's looking for you," she said. suddenly Sam felt the pain in her heart wrenching through her. She collapsed onto her hands and knees and clutched her stomach. She cried out in pain.

"what did you do?" she cried. Slit laughed.

"don't worry, it won't hurt much longer," she chimed, and with that she vanished.

"I can't abandon my feelings for Sam! I won't!" Danny barked loudly. Slit laughed.

"like you have a choice, you made an unbreakable oath, they're like on Harry Potter, break it and you die," she explained with a dark giggle. Danny sucked in a breath.

"I'd rather die than make Sam suffer like that!" he screamed. Slit looked at him. She snapped her fingers and showed Danny an image of Sam, curled up with tears in her eyes as she clutched her stomach.

"oh, so you'd rather her suffer like this?" she asked. Danny felt tears spout around his eyes. he couldn't take his eyes away from the picture despite wanting to desperately look away. Slit smiled.

"do we have a deal?" she asked, flying up close and disintegrating the image of Sam. Danny bit his lip. There's two ways to go, which is better? Which way do you want her to die? He turned away from Slit.

"well?" she growled, sounding much more mature than before. Danny felt himself crying.

"do it," he moaned, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Slit's smile grew so big it looked out of place on her face. she laughed manically and shot at Danny with ecto rays.

"say goodbye to your emotions, Danny Phantom," she cackled, and everything went black.


End file.
